TRENTON — The FBI’s probe against Mayor Tony Mack and City Hall advances to the next level on Thursday when a federal grand jury will begin its weekly duty of reviewing the FBI’s evidence to determine if anyone should be indicted, according to sources.

Cabinet members in Mack’s administration have recently missed days at work as the FBI’s investigation widened, sources said.

“I think any time you have a grand jury that’s been impaneled as an investigatory body to look at information the FBI collected, I think it’s uncertain, but I think Mr. Mack and his surrogates should be worried, because it’s serious,” city activist Michael Walker said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office doesn’t comment on grand jury proceedings, which are supposed to be secretive, but Walker and other sources said a grand jury has been impaneled as an investigatory body to comb through all of the evidence the FBI has obtained in the ongoing investigation against Mack and company. The FBI could also subpoena people to testify to the grand jury.

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Federal agents on July 19 rummaged through Mack’s mayoral office during a raid of City Hall, which occurred one day after the FBI executed search warrants at the mayor’s Berkeley Square house and other homes.

The FBI also executed search warrants at the Glen Afton house of Mack’s brother, Trenton High football coach Ralphiel Mack, and a Ewing Township home linked with convicted sex offender Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni, a Mack supporter and local businessman who operates a steakhouse restaurant. The FBI also recently raided a doctor’s office in Hamilton in connection with the investigation, sources said.

Federal authorities to date haven’t disclosed any details or rationale for the raids other than to say they are all part of an ongoing investigation. In addition to the raids, the FBI also subpoenaed the Mack administration to turn over documented information. No one has been charged, and the mayor said, “I have not violated my duties or the public trust.”

Mack’s acting public works director, Harold Hall, has not been to work in more than a week, according to a City Hall insider. The source said Hall has been on vacation and that the FBI warned him and his nephew, Charlie Hall, to not leave the city. The two are suspected to have outsourced thousands of dollars of work to external vendors for recreational work in the city. Harold Hall also wasn’t at home early Wednesday afternoon to answer questions.

A City Hall insider said Mack’s acting director of housing and economic development, Carmen Melendez, did not show up for work on Wednesday but is expected to be at work on Thursday.

Melendez could be subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury. Melendez in a recent interview said she is innocent of any wrongdoing.

City Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson confirmed that paperwork from his office has been subpoenaed by the FBI. Hutchinson on Monday said neither he nor any other city official has been subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury. Hutchinson said City Hall would meet the FBI’s deadline to turning over all of the requested documentation. Sources said that deadline is Thursday morning.

“The grand jury is being used as an investigatory body, it’s very serious, and if indictments are handed up, that’s likely to happen between September and the Christmas holiday,” Walker said.

About the Author

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman has been working as a professional journalist since graduating from Temple University in 2007. Prior to his current stint at The Trentonian, Abdur-Rahman worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer and wrote a self-published memoir about his 12-month experience of living in Australia on a spouse visa. Reach the author at sulaiman@trentonian.com
or follow Sulaiman on Twitter: @sabdurr.